Easy To Install Drip Irrigation System for Hanging Baskets

Every year we buy a couple of hanging baskets to decorate our deck. They look great and as summer approaches they even look better as the flowers spill out of the containers. The one problem we have every year is keeping the baskets watered.

The worst time for watering is during our summer vacation when we are away for a few weeks and it’s the hottest time of the year. When we are on vacation we usually need to have a neighbor come over and water the baskets every day or we take them to a friend’s house and they can water them here. Last year we fixed this problem by installing an Orbit drip irrigation system that we purchased at Home Depot.

The List of Drip Irrigation Supplies We Purchased

For watering two hanging baskets we purchased the following pieces:

1 Backflow Preventer
1 25 PSI Preset Pressure Regulator
1 Orbit HT2 Sprinkler Controller
1 House faucet to tubing adapter
100 feet of ¼ inch tubing
1 Barbed Tee Connector
2 Adjustable Flow Mist Sprayer
2 Tie wraps
1 Package of ¼ inch clamps

What Do All of the Irrigation Pieces Do?

Backflow Preventer ensures that water will not flow back into your main water system.
Pressure Regulator ensures the water pressure going into the sprinkler timer will be no greater than 25 PSI. It will not increase the pressure to 25 PSI just reduce it to 25 PSI. This is a great protection device and I highly recommend getting one.
Sprinkler Controller has the timing mechanism that automatically starts and stops the flow of water to your flowers and plants. We purchased a simple timer but you can purchase more elaborate sprinkler controller with a lot more features, like LCD displays, multiple zones and start times. To set up the Orbit Sprinkler Controller we did the following: - Remove the waterproof cover - Set Dial B to “OFF” - Set the interval on Dial A, we selected Daily - Set the duration on Dial B, we selected 15 minutes You will want to play with the settings to determine the best settings for your watering needs.
Faucet to Tubing Adapter converts the tap style connector on the controller to work with the size of tubing you are using.
¼" Drip Irrigation Tubing, Tee Connector and Adjustable Mist Sprayer all deliver the water to your plants. The tee connector allows you to add a second nozzle to the system. If you have more than two baskets or planters you will need an additional tee connector and nozzle for each additional plant you have.
¼" Clamps were used to attach the tubing to the side of the deck and you may not need this for your system.

Here is a picture of the sprinkler controller with the backflow preventer and pressure regulator attached to the tap:

Picture of a Sprinkler Controller with backflow preventer and pressure regulator

Here is a picture of the installed drip emitter in the hanging basket:

Picture of a drip irrigation emitter in a hanging basket

Determine the Watering Duration

Hanging baskets need a lot of water, especially when they are flowering and it's hot outside. They should be watered at least once a day. To determine how long to leave the timer on we ran the controller in manual mode and timed how long it took to provide enough water. Once we new this time we programmed the timer.

We programmed the timer to start in the morning when it wasn't to hot and the water wouldn't evaporate. Also, any water that poured out of the baskets onto the deck were tried by early afternoon.

For more information on different styles of tubing, please read this article on different types of drip irrigation tubing.